Weapons

Ad blocker interference detected!

Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers

Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected.

Wei Shen with the most powerful weapon in the game the Assault Rifle with the Grenade Launcher

Here you'll find a well-compiled list of the weapons and environmental hazards in Sleeping Dogs.

Considering that the game focuses mainly on hand-to-hand combat, firearms and melee weapons cannot be purchased from vendors or kept in any type of inventory. Instead, weapons are either acquired during certain missions or dropped/disarmed from Triad enemies, Police or normal citizens. Additionally, players may find a firearm or melee weapon inside of certain Lockboxes and vehicle trunks. Some weapons can be permanently found in Safehouses by installing specific DLC or by completing all story missions to get a Golden .50 Pistol.

Wei Shen is able to hold onto firearms as long as there is ammunition to be used. Once a firearm runs empty, he will automatically discard it. Similarly, melee weapons are discarded or destroyed once they lose their durability. Handguns can be holstered while larger firearms and melee weapons cannot. 2 weapons can be carried simultaneously as long as the player holsters a pistol first. Otherwise, Wei will swap his pistol for the other weapon. Should the player walk around with an unholstered firearm or certain melee weapons, civilians will run in fear and vendors will refuse to service Wei until the weapon is holstered or discarded. Having certain weapons in view of police will raise Wei's wanted level.

Wei may also hold onto weapons picked up in missions, providing that the mission does not automatically remove the weapon from Wei after completion. Additionally, some missions will remove Wei's weapons before he starts them. Due to bugs, weapons may also be removed from Wei for unknown reasons. Regardless, saving the game with a weapon and then loading the save will often replenish some ammunition (to firearms) or durability (to melee weapons).

Contents

Melee

Melee weapons are the most common in the game. When combat begins, some enemies may show up with a melee weapon; most commonly a meat cleaver. While dealing more damage to Wei than unarmed attacks, these weapons can be disarmed from enemies and quickly dispatch even the most powerful enemies. Using melee weapons also helps boost your Triad XP more so than unarmed combat during story missions. The player can also throw his melee weapon and usually eliminate an enemy easily by holding the attack button while targeting an them (only for certain weapons, such as a butcher knife or tire iron). There is a bug however, that makes enemies immune to thrown weapons during certain periods of combat. Also, using a weapon repeatedly will degrade and render itself useless, after which Wei will automatically discard it.

Additionally, fighting with a melee weapon will change certain combat mechanics. Depending on the melee weapon, Wei is limited to a specific moveset of striking attacks. Some melee weapons allow Wei to perform both light/heavy strikes as well as combos, while some melee weapons will have more limited options. However, while trying to grapple with any type of melee weapon equipped, Wei will instead grab the enemy and strike the enemy with his melee weapon once. Also, Wei can only dodge enemy melee attacks, rather than counter them.

The Whatever's Handyachievement is acquired by using ten different melee weapons to defeat enemies. Note that the player must actually kill the enemy with the item, not just hit them with it.

Environmental hazards

Environmental hazards are immovable objects that Wei uses to his advantage by either: running grabbed enemies into the environmental hazard or grabbing an enemy and then hitting the grapple button when prompted in front of an environmental hazard. When grappling an enemy, most environmental hazards will be highlighted in red, but some will not. Most of these environmental hazards can only be used once and then become unusable. Certain environmental hazards act as finishing moves while some simply serve to only damage enemies. Additionally, some hazards may require a successful quick time event.

(*)=Environmental hazards that are not highlighted red upon grabbing a hold of a victim.

(**)=Environmental hazards that may require a successful attempted quick time event to finish off an enemy.

Firearms

Firearms do not play a major part of the Sleeping Dogs underworld until midway to later in the game. In the mission Chain of Evidence, Thomas Pendrew informs Wei that guns are a rarity in Hong Kong, and the game follows suit with that credo. With the exception of some DLC content, guns are not used casually by enemies or Wei Shen. Each firearm provides different attributes, like damage and range, and some often have attachments like a Taclight (flashlight) or a grenade launcher, the latter is found only on the assault rifle. Listed further below are the 15 weapons shown on the Statistics page of the game.

With a firearm equipped, Wei can still perform some unique combat moves. By pressing the strike or melee command with a weapon equipped, Wei can still kick close range enemies. When performing a running attack, Wei will execute either a unique jumping triple-kick or shoulder-butt, depending on the type of firearm equipped. By trying to grapple, Wei will turn a grabbed enemy into a temporary human shield, while still having the ability to fire on other enemies. With this human shield in place, performing the strike or melee command will have Wei fire a round into his human shield's leg, damaging them. Also, Wei can only dodge enemy melee attacks, rather than counter them.

Besides shooting at enemies, Wei can also destroy various explosive objects (such as vehicles and fire extinguishers) to damage or kill anyone inside the blast radius (including himself). With a firearm equipped, Wei can also enter slow-motion, allowing him to target and shoot enemies faster while aiming. This ability generally expires after a few seconds, but can be extended by performing headshots. This slow-motion aiming is triggered in various situations while aiming with a firearm; such as vaulting from cover, performing a high jump in a vehicle, or aiming at an enemy vehicle while driving. It should be noted that this slow motion ability has unlimited use while driving. Through Police XP upgrades, slow motion can also be triggered by disarming an enemy, using a melee attack on an enemy, or leaping from a vehicle while aiming. While leaping from said vehicle, Wei will automatically target the gas tank, which will explode when fired upon.

The Gun Nut achievement is acquired by defeating enemies with 10 different firearms. Each variation of each firearm will count toward the achievement: for example, killing an enemy with the .45cal SMG and then killing another enemy with the .45cal SMG w/ Taclight attachment will count as two different firearms toward the total of ten.

Assault Rifles

​​First seen in The Wedding although players may not have a full chance to use it in The Wedding and Mrs. Chu's Revenge since they only appear near the end of the missions in which the game removes the player's current weapons.

Law Enforcer Pack

Year of the Snake Pack

Available with SDU Gear Outfit. Also available in any safehouse in the main story after completing the Year Of The Snake Pack.

Trivia

Originally, the 9mm pistol was designed to resemble a Walther P99 . However, the idea must have been scrapped.

An easy way to obtain a 9mm pistol is to unlock Fast Disarm, a Police XP upgrade, and then attack a police officer. The police officer will draw his pistol on Wei, which can be taken by simply grappling him. At this point, holster the pistol, run from any pursuing police forces, and reduce your current heat level back down to zero to trigger an auto-save.

An easy way to obtain a .45cal pistol w/ Taclight attachment is to go to the Sun Yat Housing Complex (a Drug Bust hangout), just outside of Wei's apartment in Kennedy Town. There's one sitting on top of a shipping crate. Some Triads here also carry .45cal SMGs' w/ Taclight. Since this is one of the few drug busts with gun-wielding Triads, both the pistol and the gang members will respawn whenever Wei returns to the area. However, once the drug bust is completed, this weapon will no longer respawn.

The environmental kill involving throwing an enemy down an elevator shaft is the only one that isn't needed to do to progress the game like the light bulb one is the only one that is seen only once, and can only be done once.

Wei cannot obtain a weapon from the trunk of a car if he is wearing the cultist outfit as he will plant a bomb in the trunk and the game will prompt the player to detonate the bomb.

Gallery

Winston with his golden Desert Eagle.

Wei taking aim with the .45cal pistol.

Wei standing alongside Conroy with the assault rifle with the grenade launcher for the second time

Wei finishing off an enemy with the swordfish heads environmental hazard.

Wei finishing off an enemy with the vehicle engine environmental hazard.